UK's main opposition party leader tests positive for COVID-19

LONDON - Britain's main opposition Labour Party leader Keir Starmer has tested positive for COVID-19, local media reported Wednesday.

Starmer carries out daily lateral flow tests but this is the first time he has tested positive, Sky News reported.

Due to the test result, he would miss the opportunity to challenge the British government in-person on its new budget Wednesday afternoon.

Starmer will have to self-isolate for 10 days. This is the fifth time he has had to self-isolate since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, most recently in July when one of his children tested positive, according to local media reports.

Another 40,954 people in Britain have tested positive for COVID-19, bringing the total number of coronavirus cases in the country to 8,853,227, according to official figures released Tuesday.

The country also reported a further 263 coronavirus-related deaths. The total number of coronavirus-related deaths in Britain now stands at 139,834. These figures only include the deaths of people who died within 28 days of their first positive test.

More than 86 percent of people aged 12 and over in Britain have had their first dose of vaccine and more than 79 percent have received both doses, the latest figures showed.

To bring life back to normal, countries such as Britain, China, Germany, Russia and the United States have been racing against time to roll out coronavirus vaccines.